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Karos/Kressh
__FORCETOC____NOEDITSECTION____NOWYSIWYG__ , }} |birth= , }} |death= , }} |species= - }} |gender= |height=1.87 |mass=85 s |hair= |eyes= |skin= |cyber= }} |era= * * * * * * |affiliation= Pre-mortem * * Priests of Typhojem * s * * Order of Karos * * Tsistaralkut Post-mortem * * * * * * * * s * * * * |masters= * * * * * * |apprentices= * * * * }} extract from the writings of Karos summarizing the central tenet of Dzwolutwokun"Those born of the Force exist as two, light and dark—the Force exists as only one. Those who crave truth must cast off the lie of duality."}} Karos ( )—sometimes referenced using a as Karos Kânisûtanjat (meaning "Karos from " in the ) and variously known by such s, s, and s as Tsistaral (meaning "Sith Protector"), Dwomûshhoyakut (meaning "summoner of the dead"), and Woqoritwai (meaning "Deathless One")—was a - of the active during the . A noted of and of the on , Karos was best remembered for taking up the mantle of acting of following the and assembling the Tsistaralkut during the , sacrificially giving his life to buy time for a to escape the Republic's . Karos was widely regarded as one of the foremost scholars of and most prolific academics of the post- period. Karos was best known for his articulation and codification of the Dzwolutwokun , a offshoot that stated that and alignment were characteristics of Force users rather than the Force itself. He was also notable for the Qotaral, a divisive work of that was critical of the that characterized prevailing Tsisajak ( ) and instead sought to propose a alternative form of government for the Sith Empire. Though his early Force-based academic work focused exclusively on the traditional Kissai study of , his subsequent work was significantly wider-ranging in scope, encompassing the study of arcane rituals of both the and of the Force and fields as diverse as and . In addition to his own body of work, which constituted a library's worth of tomes and treatises, he coauthored a significant number of seminal academic texts in collaboration with theorists from other Forceful traditions. For his talents as a and philosopher, he eventually merited a posting as the overseeing of the , a on widely acknowledged as the largest repository of Sith lore and in the Empire. Apart from his prodigious academic career, Karos was perhaps best remembered for his participation in the as a member of and for his actions during the subsequent , a counter-invasion of the Sith Worlds aimed at the systematic extermination of the Sith species. In an effort to assist in the evacuation of Sith refugees from the Stygian Caldera, Karos took up the mantle of acting of and organized a called the Tsistaralkut. The self-sacrificial actions of Karos and the Tsistaralkut managed to buy time for many Sith to flee to worlds like , , , and , in effect giving rise to notable Sith organizations and states like the and . Karos met his end following the departure of the from Korriban in , remaining behind with the Tsistaralkut remnant on the planet surface to buy time for the fleet to escape the Republic. Though he was finally cut down by the Jedi after several days of hard fighting in the , he continued to manifest as a powerful for millennia, occasionally deigning to train those prospective Jedi and Sith students who came to him in search of philosophical instruction. Even in death, he continued to protect the Sith-blooded remnant on Korriban by means of the incantation and his legions of . He was interred in a small tomb in the in acknowledgement of his status as the last—albeit acting— of the old Sith Empire. Biography Early life Heritage A contemporary of and , the - known as Karos was born in the city of on sometime after the death of and prior to the in . Despite being a member of the with traces of ancestry, Karos was primarily of blood. He was mainly descended from the refugees of who had wandered into the in the aftermath of the and subsequently interbred with their Sith masters over centuries. Additionally, like many of his Sith-blooded contemporaries, Karos was a descendant of those Human who had chosen to mate with the Sith in the years following the formation of the in . Karos himself claimed particular descent from the and his alleged . As a result of this high percentage Human ancestry, Karos manifested predominantly Human physical features. Though he exhibited the Sith species' trademark florid complexion, high cheekbones, and superficial eye stalks of the Kissai caste, Karos possessed five-fingered hands, a distinctly Human nose, and a pair of emerald eyes that betrayed his Human ancestry. Like most members of the Sith species, he also possessed a strong and a natural affinity for the , though his high Human blood ensured that he was at minimal risk of manifesting many of the dark-sided ailments that traditionally affected the Sith, such as bloodlust. Early studies Karos was raised by the Kissai priesthood of the Temple of Typhojem, a located in downtown Kaniset and a notable pilgrimage site for perambulating s drawn from the across the . As a member of the Kissai priest caste born on the homeworld of the Sith species, Karos was immersed in that caste's traditional study of from an early age. Possessed of an above-average connection to coupled with an inexorable thirst for knowledge, Karos spent much of his youth in concerted study of arcane Force rituals at the Temple, entering into the priesthood upon coming of age. He readily distinguished himself from his peers through his aptitude for such advanced rituals as and that allowed him to summon the s of undead s and bind them to his will. Not content to remain in isolation for long among the priests of , Karos eventually traversed the red wastes of Korriban to take up residence in a multiplicity of s scattered across the planet. His travels took him from his hometown of Kaniset to the distant Korribanian cities of and and saw him wander locations as remote as the and the in his search for obscure knowledge and philosophical enlightenment. Never content to remain in one place for long, he eschewed participation in the power games of his peers in favor of apprenticeship to masters of many Sith traditions and the acquisition of s of great power. Encountering Dathka Graush During one perusal of , Karos encountered the Jen'jidai's discussion of the , a fist-sized ruby and artifact of incredible power allegedly created by the to contain the Force ghosts of his enemies. Karos's subsequent study of the Sith King's exploits led him to records of the spell, a ritual of Sith magic perfected by Graush that allegedly allowed the practitioner to engage in dark-sided . When properly cast, this spell permitted the reanimation of corpses into hoyakut, a ( word meaning "the dead" made in reference to the mindless s that occasioned menaced Sith settlements. Graush's power was said to be so great that he was capable of reanimating and controlling vast armies of hoyakut single-handedly. Resolved to learn more of this forgotten ritual from the source, Karos crossed the wildlands of Korriban and journeyed to the site of , the Valley of Golg. This isolated burial ground was located on Korriban's and housed the mausoleums of ancient Sith Kings whose rules predated the arrival of the . Determined to scour Graush's tomb for the or any uncovered writings on Sith necromancy, Karos braved the traps and defenses set in place to ward off intruders and opened . However, upon removing the Heart of Graush from its owner's death grip for closer inspection, Karos found himself suddenly possessed by the undead spirit of the ancient Sith King. Though Karos dropped the Heart and hastily slammed the sarcophagus shut, it was too late—the Sith King was firmly anchored in the physical world once more, firming entrenched within Karos's psyche and hastily leeching control of the young Sith sorcerer's body. Though Graush's power was great, Karos fought back with all the concerted mental effort he could muster and forced the conflict to a standstill. For the next forty days and forty nights, Karos's physical form stumbled about the deepest recesses of the Valley of Golg in a drunken stupor, his spirit locked in unending mental combat with the unrelenting Graush for control over his body. Despite his best efforts, he felt his control slipping as the more experienced Graush cast ever more arcane incantations to which Karos had no reply. In a final desperate , Karos somehow successfully cast on Graush himself. As this spell functioned by forcibly summoning the targeted Force ghost to the sorcerer's location, it created a single instance that extricated Graush's spirit from Karos's body and returned it right back at its summoner's feet. Suddenly back in full control of his faculties with his enemy temporarily stunned before him, Karos acted quickly and cast a successful on the bewildered Graush to bind him to his will. Apprentice to a Sith King Having subjugated his foe at last, Karos compelled the Sith King to teach him the lost technique of the Tsaiwinokka Hoyakut incantation and the secrets to post-mortem transcendence as a Force ghost. Though unwilling to reveal his greatest secrets to a simple journeyman sorcerer of little reputation and meager means, Graush was unable to overcome Karos's successful Force walk and grudgingly consented to tutor the young Sith in exchange for an eventual release back into his tomb. Much to his surprise, Graush found Karos a worthy and willing student possessed of great natural ability and none of the foolish pride of the Sith. Over the next few months, Karos perfected the use of the Tsaiwinokka Hoyakut spell under the watchful eyes of its creator, recording his experiments in its application and the suggested improvements of his teacher in his personal holocron for future reference. Having learned all he could from the taciturn Sith King, Karos eventually released Graush back into the Heart and sealed the sarcophagus at the latter's request. Though Graush's spirit promptly reanimated several nearby corpses to drive Karos from his tomb, the king did not pursue the sorcerer further and permitted Karos to leave the Valley of Golg unmolested. However, unbeknownst to Karos, a part of Graush's spirit remained latched to Karos's soul following its forced eviction by means of the Invoke spirits spell. As mirrored millennia later in Graush's possession of the smuggler , the presence of this residual fragment of Graush's dark-sided essence led to Karos contracting the . This condition inadvertently forestalled any further aging-mediated decay in Karos's body and made him highly resistant to injury, rendering him functionally immortal for the remainder of his days. However, the Curse also constantly compelled Karos to return to the Valley of Golg and allow the Sith King to consume his essence, thoughts with which he was forced to content and suppress for the rest of his days. Armed with arcane knowledge few other Sith possessed, Karos returned to his home at the Temple of Typhojem in triumph, though his insatiable desire for knowledge did not permit him to rest upon his laurels for long. Despite its status as the birthplace of the Sith and the mausoleum of the , Korriban had long since been replaced by as the capital world of the Empire and haunt of the most powerful Sith Lords. While Ziost boasted a sizable population of Force scholars of many different traditions and schools of thought, Korriban was home to a significantly smaller population, leading Karos to ponder the possibility of study abroad in the greater Sith Empire. Grand Tour Study in the Stygian Caldera Eventually, Karos's desire to learn more about the mysteries of the Force convinced him to depart his homeworld to tour the greater Sith Empire and study at the feet of noted scholars and academics of the Force. His wanderings took him across the breadth of the Empire and saw him apprentice himself to s of a hundred different factions and levels of influence. Karos's prodigious talent in the Force, lack of personal ambition, and indifference to the power games of the Sith readily ingratiated him into the ranks and good graces of many high-ranking Sith Lords of the Empire, granting him easy access to many highly-placed and influential individuals in the Imperial hierarchy. Though never a power player in his own right, Karos saw frequent employment as a and right-hand man to members of the Sith nobility, offering his unbiased counsel and potent Force abilities in exchange for the knowledge and instruction in arcane Force techniques he sought. Karos remained the longest in the service of the or and prospective candidate on , serving as a senior member of Simus's Kissai priesthood. Though Simus lavished most of his attention upon his main apprentice , Karos's raw power and high performance earned him some direct instruction from the Sith Councilor himself. Unlike other Sith Lords to whom Karos had been apprenticed, Simus was not wary of Karos's insatiable desire to grow stronger through the study of forbidden rituals and arcane knowledge. Instead, seeking to cultivate a strong powerbase of talented supporters, Simus encouraged Karos to travel abroad in pursuit of the instruction he sought. Like the rest of Simus's powerbase, Karos supported Simus's bid for the of the Sith, remaining in loyal service to the Sith Lord even after his defeat in a . Study of the Sith lightsaber In addition to his pursuit of Force-based academic scholarship, Karos also pursued a number of more tangible Force-mediated fields of study during his time abroad, including swordsmanship, conventional military strategy, and espionage. To this end, he frequently apprenticed himself to noted warriors and weapon specialists of the main Sith traditions. Foremost of these was the Sith academic , a scholar who awoke in Karos an interest in the . Though the Tapani slaves of the Sith Lords had long since perfected the design initially brought to the Sith Worlds by the , use of the modern was still uncommon due to prevailing preference for the . Those few Sith who carried lightsabers were generally treated warily and assumed to be masters of arcane swordsmanship techniques unknown to most conventional duelists. The only Dark Lord to forgo use of the Sith sword in favor of the lightsaber was the ancient Jen'ari , a duelist of unparalleled ability unmatched by the greatest s and s of later millennia. Inspired by tales of Hord's expert swordsmanship, Karos took to studying the Dark Lord's preserved teachings on the subject of in detail, eventually crafting a personal Sith lightsaber of his own design and construction under Komok-Da's expert eye. Karos named this weapon Nwulkaar—a Basicization of the compound word nwûl-kaar meaning "peacekeeper"—after discovering that displaying the weapon publicly warded off potential enemies due to widespread wariness for lightsaber wielders. During the , Karos pursued additional instruction in lightsaber combat from fallen and fellow Sadowite . Though development of the of conventional lightsaber combat was still in its infancy, many protosaber-wielding were trained in the basics of , a widespread dueling paradigm that came to be known as Form I in later centuries. At Karos's request, Rrogon instructed the Sith in the specifics of the form. Though simple and inelegant in comparison to the more evolved forms that followed it, Shii-Cho was nonetheless a brutally efficient approach to lightsaber combat. Karos found that its distinct fluidity and unpredictability complemented the raw power embraced by the Tulak Hord form. The simultaneous embrace of both techniques allowed the user to gracefully execute powerful, unpredictable attacks while remaining fully in control of the duel's momentum. Tenure on Thule Over time, Karos's desire for greater knowledge led him to venture outside the traditional boundaries of the Empire to more distant, far-flung Sith colonies lying outside the shroud of the . Karos spent a significant amount of time on the outlying Sith world of , a dark-sided lying immediately outside the vicinity of the Stygian Caldera to the galactic west. This perpetually-overcast planet was the haunt of a number of furtive groups during the Golden Age of the Sith and served as the principle training grounds for Sith special forces culled from across the Empire. Over the period of a decade, Karos pursued instruction in the clandestine arts of espionage, sabotage, and assassination, aided and abetted by his burgeoning knowledge of abilities as diverse as , , and . Time on Tund Karos eventually departed Thule for worlds farther afield, most notably . One of the furthest worlds from the beating heart of the Empire, Tund was a verdant Force nexus lost on the north-eastern borders of the in the . Though initially settled by outcast who had interpreted the death of in the as a sign to reject the dark side, Tund had eventually come to serve as the penal colony of the Empire in the millennia since the latter's founding in . Its residents were heretical thinkers and theorists of many traditions, from proponents of as applied to the to . Karos mingled among members of these varied factions for many years, studying unconventional theories of the Force and penning dissertations on arcane Force rituals practiced by the Tundans. Veeshas Tuwan residency Research fellowship Sometime after leaving Tund, Karos journeyed to the distant worlds of and , Sith colonies located in close proximity to the . Though Ambria was sparsely occupied, Arkania was famously home to the , a city-sized library-temple containing a vast repository of Sith teachings, writings, and artifacts gathered over a span of millennia. Accepting a at the institution, Karos remained in residence here among countless other Sith sorcerers for many decades, often ending up lost in study within the labyrinthine structure for months at a time before finally emerging from its depths. It was within the Veeshas Tuwan's walls that Karos came to master a great many difficult rituals of , including , , and . Arkania proved to be an ideal adopted homeworld for Karos—far removed from the tedious power games of the Sith establishment, the world was mostly populated by similarly minded academics and scholars with whom Karos frequently entered into deep philosophical discourse. Controversial politics In the quiet solitude of the Veeshas Tuwan's and s, Karos had much time to reflect back upon all he had seen in his perambulations across the Empire. His musings on took increasingly more concrete form as he began analyzing perceived flaws with the prevailing political doctrine of codified in the . Dzwolutwokun Ascension to Lord-Librarian Despite his divisive politics and the wide range of opinions on his Dzwolutwokun theory, Karos was widely considered the top prospect for the position of - , the overseeing chief archivist of the Veeshas Tuwan charged with maintaining and expanding upon the repository's vast collection of artifacts and tomes. With the death of the previous Lord-Librarian, Karos ascended to the post End of the Golden Age Rise of the Sadowites During his long residence within the Empire, Karos had become intimately familiar with the rising tide of imperialism and expansionism that had taken hold in the more liberal corners of the Sith establishment during the last decades of the Golden Age. Personified in the person of , lord of the Sith sacred world of and a rising star among the more liberal Human-blooded Sith, this so-called Sadowite movement had become increasingly dissatisfied with the isolationist rule of the , whose they disparaged as an era of complacency and stagnation. During the last decades of Ragnos's reign as Dark Lord, Naga Sadow, buoyed up by his burgeoning Sadowite powerbase, became increasingly vocal in his criticisms of the Ragnosian status quo and his interest in expanding the Empire's borders through conquest and war. The Ragnosian conservatives, led by their own star in the person of , were fearful of losing the i throne to the Sadowites, a group whose policies they viewed as dangerously overreaching and whose mixed-species memberbase they viewed as an abomination. The last years of Ragnos's reign as Dark Lord were marked by public contention between the Sadowites and the , with conflict ranging from the inner chambers of the down to the streets of Ziost. Joining the Sadowites Though he was fully aware that Sadow's ultimate aim was to claim the throne of the Empire for his own selfish ends, Karos believed that a Sadowite administration represented the best possible means of bringing about the renewal of the Empire as outlined in the Qotaral. Karos believed Sadow's imperialist designs would serve as a suitable catalyst for redirecting the focus of the Sith people away from themselves and back onto the state. As the Empire expanded outwards and encountered significant foes, Karos surmised that the Sith would cast aside their petty conflicts and rally beneath Sadow's banner to protect themselves and their way of life. The resultant unification would help to mend the seams in the Sith cultural fabric and help to usher in an end to the rampant individualism that had characterized the previous millennia. As a result, Karos joined himself to the burgeoning Sadowite faction, ingratiating himself into its ruling hierarchy in the same manner as he had the courts of the Sith Lords during the days of his perambulations. His skills both as an experienced Sith sorcerer and a Thulese assassin were invaluable to the movement, and it was not long before he found himself serving as one of the principle advisers of , Tsis'ari of and Sadow's chief lieutenant. Funeral of Marka Ragnos The death of Jen'ari Marka Ragnos in after a century of throughout the Empire brought the clash between the Sadowites and Kresshites to the forefront of Sith politics. As expected, Ludo Kressh laid claim to the Dark Lord's throne as Ragnos's natural successor, promising a continuation of the policies that had defined the preceding Golden Age. As acting Dark Lord, Kressh led the down from Dreshdae to in the , followed by the members of the , dignitaries from distant worlds, and a trailing group of commoners and Grotthu slaves. Representing Arkania as the Lord-Librarian of the Veeshas Tuwan, Karos was among the twenty-three Sith who headed the procession to the tomb, but was not included among the twenty Sith Lords who oversaw the pseudo-religious internment ceremony. Karos witnessed the fashionably late arrival of Naga Sadow and the Sith Lord's public claim to the Sith throne. Several decades of growing tension between the Sadowite and Kresshite factions finally came to a head with the subsequent duel between Sadow and Kressh upon the steps of Ragnos's mausoleum, pitting the heads of each faction against each other in a test of strength and Force ability. With both Lords unable to best each other, the duel was only ended by the sudden appearance of the of Ragnos himself, who spoke to the Sith of the glory of the Empire and urged both claimants to not succumb to division and civil war before fading away. Inspired by Ragnos's warning, Kressh extended the hand of peace to Sadow in an effort to put the good of the Empire above his own ambition, but was rebuffed in his attempt at finding a compromise. Further conflict, however, was averted by the sudden arrival of the , a crewed by the siblings and that landed adjacent to the funeral progression in the . Sadow's machinations Legacy Though condemned to live in an era dominated by such historical heavyweights as , , and , Karos nontheless maintained a sizable cult among the Sith diaspora in the centuries following his death. He was particularly revered by the Kissai and Massassi remnant that had survived the Sith genocide on Korriban thanks to the delaying efforts of Karos's Tsistaralkut. Personality and traits Bibliography * "Bloodlust" on ''Star Wars'' Fanon * * * * * * * " " on * * * " " on * * * * * * * " "—'' '' * * * * —Codex Entry: "Galactic History 26: Naga Sadow's Deceptions" * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * }} Notes and references "Bloodlust" on ''Star Wars'' Fanon " " on " " on " "—'' '' —Codex Entry: "Galactic History 26: Naga Sadow's Deceptions" }}